Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne, Australia

Spread over several blocks in this prototype cosmopolitan city Melbourne, is the Victoria Market. The beauty of this market lies in it’s simultaneous simplicity and speciality that the land of kangaroos offer the tourists. The Victoria Market was set up long ago in 1878 and since then it has not only served to satisfy the needs and demands of the natives but also has been capable of attracting a good enough number of visitors every year.

Victoria Market is also popularly known as Vic Market or Queen Vic Market. AS the name suggests, the market had been named after the much apotheosised queen, Victoria who ruled from 1837- 1901. Since then, the market has not only stood out as a market which provides commodities to peole but it is a cultural representation of what actually the Victorian Age was. Most importantly, this market is the oldest one which has been able to survive or so. It is said that even before th Victoria Market, two markets were opened simultaneously but then they had to be shut due to their low popularity way back in the mid twentieth century.

Stretching from block 65 to block 159 is this huge bustle of stalls found in the market. Remaining closed on the Mondays and the Wednesdays, the market usually opens around 6:00 a.m. In the morning, except on Fridays when it opens around 9:00 in the morning. It usually closes down around 3:00 in the afternoon, varying sometimes sooner or sometimes later. Other than being the fresh food shop of Melbourne and a historic landmark, the Queen Vic Market is also an institution in Melbourne.

There are many sections to the Victoria Market and all of them are distinct in their own manner. If we take, for an instance, the example of the famous Victoria and the Elizabeth stalls, then none other can beat them in the kind of eloquent goods that they provide. All of it looks so original and precious. String Bean Alley, on the other hand is as much new as the former stalls are old. It is the newest retail place and has used a very innovative technique of setting up artisan workshops and stalls by using re- purposed shipping containers.

Coming next to the Deli Hall, it is the most popular section amongst all the ones found in the Queen Vic Market. Bemusingly, it has got cabins made up of real marbles which act as the modern day refrigerators or perhaps even more than those. It is popular as a center of dairy products. Here we have shops which offer all kinds of meat of chicken, crocodile, kangaroo, rabbit and so on. Not only this, we also have many confectionary items which are sold in this section if the stall. The market is really famous for the Italian, Turkish, French pastries and sandwiches. This section is often referred to as the second food court.

Next we have is the Meat Hall where one can get any kind of meat in any required shapes you want, be it offal or the sausages. It has perhaps got one of the best sea food markets. Besides this, we also get a taste of the different cuisine. Despite these cuisines not being the forte of the people here, they cook it as good as the people native to these food items do. Then we have the fruit and veg section where we can get the rarest of the rare species of fruit items not just from Australia but also from Asia.

Next in the row is the section which has stalls that offer the best and the original biodynamic and organic produce. Be it fruits or the meat, everything sold over here is original and purely organic. Infact the butcher over here is the first organic one in the whole of Melbourne. Apart from these things, there is this general stall which provides goods of all kinda, be it the lifestyle products, décor, CDs, DVDs and many more.

The Public Transport Victoria is the easiest way to get to the Queen Victoria Market. It is easily accessible. The Queen Victoria Market is one of the most popular markets in the world. It is not just a market but more than that. It is the representation of the highly respected Victirian Age, the preserver of the Victorian culture. So a visit to this place is a must.